Research
Research
We invite engage in diverse ways with the Peabody Museum and the collections we steward.
Currently, however, the Peabody Museum has restricted research access to collections as we focus on our ethical and legal responsibilities under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Beginning in January 2025, we are limiting new appointments for all Peabody Museum collections to U.S. Tribal Nations visiting for NAGPRA consultation and Harvard faculty, students, and staff. Please know this is not a decision we have made lightly but one we must make to support this critical repatriation work.
Some of our community projects and fellowships are on hold, but we hope to open these again soon. We will be reviewing this closure annually, but we anticipate that we may be closed until 2029. There are other ways to engage with the museum, however, through public programming and through Collections Online.
Below you can learn more about our current initiatives, research, and projects as well as more on the Museum’s research centers and the Publications Department.
Institutional Histories Initiative
As one of the oldest museums of anthropology, the history of the Peabody Museum is intricately linked to legacies of settler colonialism and imperialism both in the United States and around the globe. The Peabody was founded on the practice of collecting the cultural heritage of diverse communities in ways that were tied directly to nation-building: Harvard-funded exploration and research in the name of anthropological practice was the mechanism by which cultural heritage was removed from origin communities.
We must now undertake the critical work of interrogating the Peabody's complex history, honestly reflecting on past practices, so that we may better partner with origin and stakeholder communities openly and transparently. As the current stewards of cultural heritage from communities through time and around the globe, what aspects of our past need to be investigated and addressed? How can different stories of collections and collectors be drawn together with historical policies and practice to unpack and confront the Peabody's challenging and often traumatizing history? As an institution, the Peabody must recognize the far-ranging and long-term nature of this work, which has impacted nearly every aspect of our practice from field collection and documentation to museum display and interpretation.
Community Projects and Fellowships
Research Programs and Labs
Publications
The Peabody Museum publishes a variety of print and electronic publications relating to archaeology and anthropology. Browse and purchase Peabody Museum Press books in the online Bookstore. Out-of-copyright titles are available in electronic form. The Museum also publishes the journal RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics,available through the University of Chicago Press, and several electronic journals and newsletters.
